Farm Face – Skin Edition

I love spending time at the family farm. Actually, I love going away anywhere for a few days of rest and relaxation. What I don’t love (apart from the 7-8 hour drive) is trying to condense my beauty bag down to a somewhat respectable size. Dammit, I need options!! For the first time in my life I feel I downsized to an acceptable level. Sort of… Let’s check it out!

Skincare-Farm Style

OK, we started off with two cleansers, the Oskia Renaissance Cleanser which is a long time love and I’m sure you’ve heard it all before, but this is fab cleanser. It’s labelled as a gel, but it feels like a balm and melts into the skin like an oil. Perfect refresher for in the mornings but also at night as it contains enzymes which aid in a bit of exfoliation and truly it just smells divine. Next up is a travel sized Mario Badescu Cream Soap. I hadn’t tried this one before, but I have a box full of samples and travel sized products to try, so what better time hey? It’s a lovely gentle cream and washes off easily. My skin is reasonably sensitive and it did nothing to aggravate it. Not sure if I would buy the full size, because as much as it did its job, it seems pretty basic. I like a little more oomph in my products. I will definitely keep the rest of this bottle and use it again when away or if my skin becomes irritated, I’d put it in the same category as La Roche Posay Toleriane Dermo Cleanser which I keep around for when my skin has a reaction or meltdown.

I decided to forego the exfoliating toner on this trip, I figured I’d be outside in the sun all day erry day so did not want to give my face any more chance of sunburn than was already necessary. As it happened it rained and was miserable for 80% of our 5 day trip. Facepalm. Instead I took along a spray toner, another travel size I received as a sample. This is another Mario Badescu, Facial Spray with Aloe, Herbs and Rosewater. Now this is one I will be purchasing full size of. I love this face mist. It smells incredible and sets my skin up for serums/moisturisers beautifully. For the price especially(full size $9!!!), this is hands down winner.

For a serum, I choose to take along Philosophy’s No Reason to Hide (surprise, surprise, sample!) I only used this one a few times at night, so i don’t really have an opinion on the effectiveness just yet. I still have some left and will continue to use, so we’ll see.

Moisturiser’s are where I came a bit unstuck. I took 4 (including a eye cream). Lols. First up is the MV Organics Rose Soothing Protective Moisturiser. I use this one in the mornings as it is the perfect non-greasy base. The instructions recommend to spray with a facial spray prior to applying half a pump and this really helps as this cream is quite hard to spread around evenly without doing this step. I alternated between the Avene Skin Recovery Cream and Omorovicza Rejuvenating Night Cream (deluxe sample size as seen in this post) in the evening. Both my partner & son used the Avene cream also, so it almost doesn’t count as part of my stash….. The Omorovicza feels really nourishing and the thick texture feels very luxurious. It sinks in well and my skin wakes up lovely and plump the morning after, but would I buy a full size of this one? At $205 AUD I think its highly likely to say that I probably won’t. There are creams in my stash less than half the price that I prefer. For an eye cream I toted along my little sample pot of SK-II’s Stempower Eye Cream. Love this eye cream, this is the second little sample pot of this I’ve used, and I have one still stashed away. It is one I would really consider full size of in the future.

For sunscreen I used the Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Face 50+ which I also used on my six year old’s face. Nice budget option, didn’t feel greasy and did the job.

Lastly, Heal Gel. I’m not going to say too much about this one as I’d really like to dedicate an entire post to this one. But whoa, I never want to be without this one. It’s LOVE.

Needless to say, as much as I had what I needed and could get by on this stash for longer if I had too, I love being back at home with all my options and the face mask I applied the night I got home was HEAVEN.